Having just decided to take vacation from the 100 hr weeks, I come back to having time on the net to learn that one of my pet peeves is still alive and kicking.

Women who think they need to build a sisterhood, and encourage more women to participate in the Internet, because women are underrepresented.

Really, leave that attitude back at the sorority house, and welcome to the working world. (I can say that, I am a member of a sorority).

Being a geek doesn't mean you can launch a GUI and install *nix. Being a geek doesn't mean you've read the lastest issue of Linux Magazine and can quote it in relevant conversations to make yourself seem superior to all those who don't read it. Being a geek doesn't mean shutting your computerdown at 5 PM and going home to your REAL life.

Being a geek is living and breathing computers. Being a geek means having 1 working system, and 5 others lying around in various parts of install and cannabilism. Being a geek means that computers are all there is to life.

Being a geek or a good engineer or part of any technology field has nothing whatsoever to do with being female...it has nothing to do with being male either.

It has to do with being competent, something 90% of the "engineers" or "administrators" I've met, male and female, don't get points for. The problem is, if I say 90% of the female engineers I've met are idiots, everyone jumps down my throat for being sexist (aren't some people in for a shock). If I say 90% of the engineers I've met are idiots, everyone jumps down my throat for being elitist.

No matter how much encouragement is provided to women, if they don't have the mindset to be an engineer, or sysadmin, or coder, nothing you can do will change that. Despite much encouragement to the contrary, I'm not a coder. I'm a great tester, and a decent code-checker, but I can't write new code to save my life...and I'm not the only female I know with this problem...I know quite a few males with this problem as well.

The big difference? No one tries to tell the men they ought to do it because of xyz. Everyone tries to tell me I should, even though I'm not competent at it, because women are underrepresented as coders.